sure as shooting

Idioms  

1. Most certainly, as in It's going to snow tonight, sure as shooting, or That grizzly is sure as shooting going to make dinner out of us. This idiom has replaced the older sure as a gun, dating from the mid-1600s, a time when guns fired with far less certainty. [Second half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

All sweeping statements should be qualified or trouble will ensue, sure as shooting.

From Time Magazine Archive

And you sure as shooting don’t need an outhouse if you don’t have folks living nearby.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

But sure as shooting, this was the other person the Preacher said we were gonna have to go see.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

As sure as shooting I’m going to run out of money.”

From The Man from the Bitter Roots by Lockhart, Caroline

It was Wiley Holman, as sure as shooting, and–well, Wiley was not so bad.

From Shadow Mountain by Coolidge, Dane